All aboard died, two thirds of them Dutch and 38 of them Australian residents.

On Friday independent Russian news website Novaya Gazeta published a statement signed by families of slain Australians Roger and Jill Guard and Jack O’Brien as well as relatives of six other victims.

Camera IconAustralia will play in the World Cup in Russia this year.Picture: Getty Images

The letter begins by saying the eyes of the world will be turning to Russia for the “joyous event” of the World Cup.

“Some of us who write these words are passionate followers of football, others are not. But none of us will be able to share in this World Cup in the way we would have done before. We have something in common that gives this event and the place in which it is held, a different, darker meaning,” the letter reads.

“On July 17, 2014 Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine. Two hundred and ninety eight people were killed. Among the bodies lying among the debris and fields of sunflowers were our children, our partners, our brothers and sisters, our parents.”

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine were now “considering options” towards prosecution as they remained united to pursue justice for those who lost their lives and their families.

Camera IconWreckage from MH17 lies in a field near the village of Grabove, in the region of Donetsk.Picture: News Corp

“That a sophisticated weapon belonging to the Russian Army was dispatched and used to shoot down a civilian aircraft should be of grave international concern,” Ms Bishop said in response to the latest report.

The letter also details the impact the Russian missile has had on the families left behind.

“Despite it being nearly four years since our lives were shattered, we struggle to comprehend what happened. The people we love were killed in a war, a war in which they were not combatants, a war they had nothing to do with. We know they are not the only victims of this confrontation.

Camera IconPaul Guard, watched by his sister Amanda and brother David, all children of Jill and Roger Guard David, speaks during a memorial service for their parents.Picture: AAPIMAGE

“We, as families of those killed on MH17, are still breathing, but the lives we had also came to a close that day. We are not the same people we were before.The world we live in is darker and less hopeful. We have struggled to maintain faith in human goodness.

“It may be that some of us will find some sense of purpose and happiness again. But we will always be marked by the brutal and sudden death of those we love.”

The letter was signed by Jack O’Brien’s parents Jon and Meryn and Roger and Jill Guard’s son Paul.

It ends by explicitly blaming Russian leaders for the death of their loved ones.

Camera IconJon, Meryn and Bronwyn O'Brien in the new MH17 memorial in Amsterdam remembering so and and brother Jack.Picture: Supplied

“But we cannot deny that from our perspective, a shadow hangs over this event. We are painfully aware of the dark irony that the Russian leaders who will profess to welcome the world with open arms, are those who are chiefly to blame for shattering our world.”

“And that it is these same leaders who have persistently sought to hide the truth, and who have evaded responsibility ever since that dreadful day in July 2014.”